‘It’s cold, it’s mouldy, we’re ill non-stop’: the UK families living in fear of winter

‘There is only so much a body can take’: Alifjane Begum and her three children, Anisa, seven, Ayesha, six, and Ayaat, four, who live in Dagenham. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Last winter Ayaat, four, was “severely ill, coughing all night”, as damp afflicted her family’s temporary council home in Dagenham, east London.

As mould spread, her sisters, Ayesha, six, and Anisa, seven, were sick too, and were regularly prescribed antibiotics. Their mother, Alifjane Begum, 27, has a cupboard full of Calpol but it doesn’t help much. Now she lives in fear of the coming winter knowing her finances won’t stretch to keeping the heating on to keep condensation at bay.